For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name [shall be] great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense [shall be] offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name [shall be] great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
Ver. 11. For from the rising of the sun, &c.] Whereas they might object, if you will not have service from us, you can have none at all; for other people walk every one in the name of his god, Micah 4:5, and the Gentiles have their vanities, and doctrines of vanities, Jeremiah 14:22; Jeremiah 10:8, wherewith they are wholly taken up. Take you no care for that, saith God here.
For from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles] I will provide for mine own great name, that is, for my glory (for so God's name is used in that sense, Exodus 9:16 Psa 8:1). I will be no loser by your rejection; for I have other people that will more reverence me, and do me better service; so that I need not be beholden to you. I have from east to west those that will make hard shift but I shall have service done me. I can "set a sign, and send to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud," &c., "that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles," Isaiah 66:19,20. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, &c., that though sick, weakly, and unfit for travel, yet they shall come on end; and rather in litters than not at all; they shall be content to suffer any hardship for heaven, as the stone will fall down to come to its own centre, though it break itself in a hundred pieces. The Gentiles once converted shall fly as a cloud, Isaiah 60:8, that is, with greatest pernicity and swiftness; yea, they shall in such flocks come to the Church, as if a whole flight of doves, driven by some hawk or tempest, should scour into the columbary, and rush into the windows. There are those who have observed, that the name of God in all the maternal languages consisteth of four letters (יחות, Yεος, Deus, Dieu, Gott), to intimate that he hath his people in all the four quarters of the earth, out of all countries, nations, and languages. Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." In the original the last letter of the word hear is greater than the rest, as calling for all possible heed and attention. So likewise is the last letter in the word one, which being Daleth, and standing usually for four (as a numeral letter), signifieth, say the Hebrew doctors, that this one God shall be worshipped in all the four corners of the earth. Hebrew Text Note This Cyprian hath also gathered from the Greek letters of the name Adam; which do severally signify the four quarters of the world, east, west, north, and south: to teach that Christ, the second Adam, will fetch his people from all parts (A Aνατολη, D Dυσις, A Aρκτος, M Mεσημβρια), and hath therefore built his Church, his New Jerusalem, four square, Revelation 21:16, and placed on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates, Revelation 21:13, that all from all parts may have free and open access unto him. Babylon was in like manner built four square, as Herodotus testifieth; and Constantinople is so situated between Europe and Asia, as if it were fatally founded to command both. This is much more true of Uranople, the city of the great king, open to all comers, as the Aedilis, or chamberlain's house in Rome was. "O thou that hearest prayers, to thee shall all flesh come" (saith the Psalmist, Psa 65:2), come with a courage, since they are sure as of access, so of success in all their suits through Christ the Mediator, "who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles," Ephesians 2:14. This the perverse Jews could never abide to hear of; nor can they to this day. And therehence is it that they have in their expositions basely depraved this text, and corrupted the true sense of it, as is to be seen in the Chaldee Paraphrast and David Kimchi; calling us still Gel Mamzer, bastard Gentiles, and cursing us in their daily prayers, which are not (sure) that pure offering mentioned in this verse, and interpreted by them of the prayers of the holy Jews everywhere dispersed. The rejection of the Jews and acceptation of the Gentiles into grace and favour is a hidden mystery; such as maketh the apostle of the Gentiles cry out, "O the depth!" Romans 11:33; yea, it is a part of that great "mystery of godliness," 1 Timothy 3:16, that "God manifested in the flesh should be preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the world." Let us pity the poor hardened Jews; and pray the rending of the vail that is yet spread over them; that the rebuke of God's people may be taken away from off all the earth, Isaiah 25:7,8. Let us also praise God, who hath made us Gentiles meet "to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light," Colossians 1:12. And take heed that we sin not away our light, and cause God to take his kingdom from us, giving it to a nation that will bring him better fruit, Matthew 21:43. We have a fair warning given us by the example of the Jews, Romans 11:11. Seest thou another shipwreck? look to thy tackling.
From the rising of the sun] From the east of Judaea the sun of Christ's gospel passed by the south of Greece, to the west of the Latin Church, and these islands of ours that lie in the sea, into which the sun is said to go down, or to lie down, as in its tabernacle of rest (which is an expression of the old Greek poets, and the original word here used agreeth to it). All the danger is, lest the gospel, in this its solar motion, be travelling for the west of that other world, the American parts; and quitting its present places of residence and unworthy possessors; and then farewell England. Oh, let us pray that that dismal day may never arise wherein it shall be said, that the glory is departed from our English Israel.
My name shall be great] Name for fame, as Exo 34:5-6 Philippians 2:9 Genesis 11:4. Renowned men are called men of name, Genesis 6:4, and base men are called men of no name, Job 30:8 .
Shall be great] Not that God is great, or less. Magnum et parvum sunt ex iis, quae sunt ad aliquid, saith Aristotle. But God's name is said to be great when he is declared or acknowledged to be great, as the word sanctified is used, Matthew 6:9, and the word justified, Mat 11:19 James 2:21. God's fame and glory is as himself, eternal and infinite; and so abides in itself, not capable of our addition or detraction. As the sun which would shine in its own brightness and glory, though all the world were blind, and did wilfully wink. Howbeit, to try how we prize his name, and how industrious we will be to magnify and exalt it, he hath declared that he esteems himself made glorious; and accounts that he hath received, as it were, a new being by those inward conceptions we have of his glory, and those outward honours we do to his name.
And in every place incense shall be offered] Not at Jerusalem only, as the Jews held; nor in mount Gerizim, as the Samaritans, John 4:20,21; but any place without difference, be it but a chimney, might make a goodly oratory, 1 Timothy 2:8. All religious differences of places was taken away by Christ's death. Therefore as soon as he had said, John 19:30 "It is finished," he gave up the ghost, and presently the vail of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom, Matthew 27:51. And from that hour there was no more holiness in the temple than in any other place. Though till then the temple was so holy a place, and such religious reverence did God's people bear to it, that after the Chaldeans had burnt it they honoured the very place where it had stood, and esteemed it holier than any other. This appears by those eighty persons whom Ishmael murdered, Jeremiah 41:5, and by Daniel's opening his windows toward Jerusalem, when he prayed, Daniel 6:10 .
Incense shall be offered, and a pure offering] Insigne testimonium pro sacrificio Missae, saith Bellarmine. This text is a notable testimony for the sacrificing of the mass, which Papists will needlessly have to be the sacrifice here meant and mentioned. Much like that Sorbonist, that finding it written at the end of St Paul's Epistles, Missa est, &c., bragged he had found the mass in his Bible: so another, reading John 1:4, Invenimus Messiam, made the same conclusion (Beehive of Rome, fol. 93). We shall waive their arguments as sufficiently answered by others; and take the meaning of the Holy Ghost here to be of such spiritual sacrifices of the New Testament as all Christians, even the whole royal priesthood, are bound to offer up to God. These are called incense and offering by analogy, 1 Peter 2:5, the type for the thing thereby shadowed, as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Augustine interpret the text, Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3,4. This incense is prayer and praise, Psa 141:2 Hebrews 13:15 Hos 14:4 Psalms 51:19. This pure offering is every faithful Christian, together with all the good things that he hath or can do. It is simplex oratio de conscientia pura, saith Tertullian. Thus those good Macedonians gave themselves to the Lord, saith St Paul, "and unto us by the will of God," 2 Corinthians 8:5. Thus the Romans had delivered themselves up to the form of doctrine that had been delivered unto them, Romans 6:17, and are yet further exhorted to exhibit, present, make tender, yield up, and offer, as spiritual priests, their bodies (and much more their souls), to God, as a living sacrifice, Romans 12:1, by a willingness to do what he requireth, Psa 40:6 Romans 15:16, and to die for his sake if called thereunto, Philippians 2:17 2 Timothy 4:6. Swenkfeldians took away all external service, saith Zanchy. Libertines say, it is sufficient that we sacrifice to God the hidden man of the heart. The Pope saith to his vassals, My son, give me thy heart; be a Papist in heart, and then go to church, dissemble, do what ye will; but God requires to be glorified with our spirits and bodies both, because both are his, 1 Corinthians 6:20. The very Manichees, that denied God to be the author of the body, fasted on Sundays, and in fasting exercised a humiliation of the body. But (2.) as the true Christian sacrificeth himself to God, so all that he hath or can; and is ready to say, as that Grecian did to the Emperor, If I had more, more I would bring thee (Eι πλεον ειχον, πλεον εδιδουν). It comforts him to consider, that "if there be a willing mind, God accepts according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not," 2 Corinthians 8:12. Noah's sacrifice could not be great, yet was it greatly accepted, because of clean beasts, and offered in faith. It is the godly man's care that his offering, though it be poor, yet may be a pure offering, proceeding from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, 1 Timothy 1:5; and then he is sure it is pure, by divine acceptation through Christ, 1 Peter 2:5. In confidence whereof he lifts, up holy hands, 1 Timothy 2:8. And although, sensible of his impurities and imperfections, his heart misgives him sometimes, as Jacob's did, lest his father should discern him; yet when he remembereth that he is clothed, as Jacob was, with the garment of his elder brother, the robe of Christ's righteousness (which is not a scant garment, as Bernard saith, but reaching to the heels, and covering all the parts of the soul), he goeth boldly to the throne of grace, and covers God's altar with his evangelical sacrifices; such as are contrition and self-denial, Psalms 51:17; confidence in God, Psalms 4:6; obedience to the preaching of the gospel, Romans 15:16; beneficence to the poor, Philippians 4:8; &c. In all which his aim and endeavour is to worship God in spirit, and to do all more out of thankfulness, and less out of constraint of conscience. For he knows that as the greatest growth of sinners is in spiritual wickedness (as in those that sin against the Holy Ghost), so the greatest growth of grace is in spiritual holiness, in worshipping God more in spirit and truth.